American Sha'Carri Richardson won the women's 100-meter world title Monday in Budapest, Hungary, outsprinting a star-studded field to take a gold medal two years after a positive marijuana test derailed her Olympic dreams. Running on the far outside in Lane 9, Richardson finished in 10.65 seconds to match the year's best time and set the world-championship record. She beat Jamaicans Shericka Jackson by 0.07 seconds and five-time champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce by 0.12, the AP reports. "I'm here, I told y'all," she told the track announcer right after the race. "I'm not back, I'm better."
This was Richardson's first major competition on the world stage, and she was listed as a 5-1 underdog even though she came in as the American champion and had bested Jackson, who also has run 10.65 this year, the previous two times they met in 2023. The race featured four of the eight fastest runners of all time, including Marie-Josée Ta Lou, who finished fourth. Although it was clear that Richardson had finished ahead of all those runners to her left in the gold-medal race, the 23-year-old looked stunned when she crossed the line. She blew a kiss toward the sky, cast her eyes on the scoreboard, and walked toward the stands in a daze to accept the American flag and congratulations from Fraser-Pryce, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain, and others.
Richardson appeared ready to become America's next sprint star when she cruised to a win at Olympic trials two years ago. But that victory came off the books after she tested positive for marijuana—a doping violation she readily admitted, saying she was in a bad place after the recent death of her mother. A raucous debate ensued over whether marijuana, not a performance enhancer, really belonged on the banned list (it's still there), and whether regulators were too keen to go after a young, outspoken, Black, American woman (they said everyone is subject to the same rules).
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After a few unsuccessful comeback attempts—she finished an embarrassing last at a much-hyped return a few weeks after the Tokyo Olympics—Richardson started rounding into form to start 2023. About a year ago, she bared her soul in a live chat on social media, urging people to find their true selves, as she had done. She also found herself on the track, and when the biggest race this side of the Olympics was over Monday night, everyone was looking at her.
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